


You're No Good For Me and you'll surely be the death of me

by Sincerely_Insanity



Category: One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: Age Difference, Criminal Liam, Criminal Louis, Drug Dealing, Drug Use, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Smut, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Gang Violence, Gangs, Gun Violence, M/M, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Older Liam, Older Louis, On-Again/Off-Again Relationship (nouis), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Past Abuse, Physical Abuse, Pining Louis, Possessive Liam, Protective Niall, Protectiveness, Zayn has issues but doesn't really know it, Zayn mostly writes off his past like it was normal, basically everyone is older than Zayn, gang leader!liam, gang member louis, naive zayn, older niall
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-02-09 23:03:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12898743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sincerely_Insanity/pseuds/Sincerely_Insanity
Summary: And Zayn hasn't been around violence a whole lot in his life, but he's watched plenty of action movies to know what a gun cocking sounded like.Or a ziam gang au that no one needs (or asked for), but I'm gonna cry over it anyway.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This idea came to me as I was editing some pics of Ziam and I know this is short, but I'm mainly posting this here to see if anyone would want to read it? It's not a full blown story yet in my head (obviously from the lack of tags) so if no ones really interested I'll just leave it like this. This was only proof read by me so if you notice any errors feel free to point them out to me. Anyways...!

Candles. You couldn't have a birthday cake without them, they were almost more important than the cake itself, but Zayn had forgotten them nonetheless. He'd been too caught up in picking out the perfect outfit– yes Zayn was one of those people. One of those people that dressed their dogs up in outfits for special occasions, and okay maybe not just for special occasions, but cut him some slack– Pete looked adorable in anything Zayn put him in and he couldn't resist.

That was really besides the point now because the shops were due to close any minute now and he wouldn't forgive himself if he didn't have candles for Pete's first birthday. And when he looked back at this defining moment that's what he would blame it on. He would blame cutting through the seedy looking alley on the shops near him not being 24 hours.

He wrinkled his nose as the smell of sour garbage and urine assaulted his nostrils. It was nauseating and pushed him to peddle a bit faster, the end of the alley had a soft glow to it from a nearby street lamp and it couldn't have looked more like the gateway out of hell to Zayn in that moment.

"What do you mean you don't have it?" Zayn pumped his breaks hard at the sound of an angry voice, causing his tires to skid slightly, but thankfully stopping just before the apartment buildings on either side of him could no longer shield him from anyone's view.

"I-It's just that I don't get p-paid until next week and-"

"I don't care when you get paid next. I told you to have the money by tonight and if you didn't you would pay for it some other way," Zayn was frozen in fear as he heard what could only have been the sound of a bone breaking– if the scream the guy let out was anything to go by.

"Please Mr. Payne, I'll have the m-money soon, if you c-could just give me a little bit of an ext-ension-"

A cold, humorless laugh interrupted the man's plea. "Ya know what? Think this will work out for everyone just as well," And Zayn hasn't been around violence a whole lot in his life, but he's watched plenty of action movies to know what a gun cocking sounds like.

He stepped off his bike and did his best to turn it around in the small space the buildings allowed him, but with the way the blood was rushing in his ears and his heart was hammering against his chest it was pretty much a given that something would have gone wrong. He hadn't seen them, was sure that they hadn't been there when he first had gotten to the end of the alleyway, but he sure as hell heard the way his bike backed into the cans of paint, causing them to topple over onto the concrete–

"What the fuck was that?"

ShitShitShit _SHIT_

He finally turned his bike around the rest of the way and peddled as fast as he could back the way he had came– the shouting behind him seemed to get louder and louder, almost as though they were gaining on him, but he didn't dare to look back. He broke through the opening between the buildings and willed his legs to peddle faster. He weaved in and out of different side streets doing his best to confuse the people chasing after him and hopefully lose them in the process.

Beads of sweat trickled down his neck and his thighs begged him to let them rest, take a short break, but he couldn't. With fear hot in his veins he almost shouted in relief when he saw his house come into view and only then did he look behind him-- making sure they had given up before he let it be known where he lived. He wasn't stupid-- naïve at times, but Zayn knew even the smallest slip up could cause those people to find him again and he didn't really want to think about what they might do to him then.

He hopped off his bike and ran it up his porch steps, struggling to get his keys out of his pockets and hold his bike up at the same time. He took one last look over his shoulder, ensuring there wasn't anyone running after him anymore before he stepped into his house. He let his bike fall to the floor carelessly and ran to all of the windows to close the curtains and make sure they were all locked and double checking the door was locked as well.

He sunk into his couch and let out a small _'oof'_ when Pete hopped onto his stomach. "Hey babes, you'll forgive me if we postpone your celebration, won't you?" Zayn asked and gave Pete a kiss on his nose. The puppy didn't seem to mind as he licked Zayn's cheek and settled happily in the man's lap. With the panic and adrenaline almost all out of his system Zayn quickly became absolutely exhausted. His legs felt as though they each weighed a ton as he lifted them onto the couch and settled into a more comfortable position with Pete beginning to snore peacefully on his chest.

He was out almost instantly even though he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright I've decided to make this a thing and I've got a bit better idea of where I want this story to go. I have no idea how long this is going to end up being and I'll probably still have to add tags and maybe even take some out, but that's all easy to do. This has only been proof read by me so if you see any mistakes please point them out to me!  
> Anyways...!

Zayn groaned as he turned around onto his other side so he was facing the back of the couch and  _ away _ from the horrid sunlight that was streaming in through the crack in his curtains. He hated being woken up by anything other than himself and even then he still wasn’t much of a morning person, but apparently mother nature decided it was time for him to get up because now the beam of sunlight was beginning to make the back of his neck hot and--

_ shit! _

Sunlight was bad. Very bad. 

He shot off the couch, apologizing to Pete who was asleep on the floor when the puppy let out a startled yelp.

He was late, so fucking late and his boss was going to have his ass for this he’s sure.

“Come on babes, let's get you outside real quick,” Zayn called to the dog as he hopped through the house with one leg in and the other leg out of a fresh pair of jeans. Pete bolted into the backyard to relieve himself and mess around for a bit while Zayn finished up with his hair and teeth. After he was more put together he called Pete back inside and locked the doors behind himself on the way out of the house with his bike in tow.

He peddled as fast as his legs would allow-- trying not to think about why they were so sore this morning. He wished it could have been some kind of fucked up dream, but if the way his legs were begging him to get off his bike was anything to go by last night was no dream. 

Zayn let out a sigh of relief once he saw the diner come into view, but didn’t slow down. He practically crashed into the bike rack and hurriedly locked it up before rushing inside.

“Look who decided to show up!” A deep voice called as soon as he made it into the kitchen.

“I’m so sorry Mr. Reed, I overslept. I can-- I can work a double tonight,” Zayn offered.

Mr. Reed crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes at Zayn. “Not unless you’re gonna do it for free, I can’t afford to pay you for a double.”

“Yes! I can do that,” And what the fuck was he saying? He couldn’t afford to work for free just as much as his boss couldn’t afford to pay him for a double.

Mr. Reed seemed to think it over for a minute before nodding his head in agreement. “Alright, but if you're late again don’t bother showing up at all,” And he said it as though Zayn was late on a regular basis which rubbed the dark haired lad the wrong way because that just wasn’t the case. In fact this was Zayn’s first time being late in the past year and a half he had worked at the diner, but he nodded along anyway, not wanting to upset his boss any further.

Zayn let out a sigh after Mr. Reed had walked away and proceeded to grab his apron and tie it around his waist.

“Are ya crazy? Really gonna work for nothing?”

Zayn rolled his eyes at his best friend. “If it means I keep this job then yeah. Couple free shifts won't put me on my ass that much.” 

“Whatever ya say mate,” Niall said with a shake of his head before he shoved plates of food into Zayn’s waiting arms.

-*-

It was honestly starting to creep him out a bit.

He tried to ignore it at first cause really he was probably just being paranoid, but it seemed like every time Zayn stepped out of the kitchen with a new order he could feel eyes on him. It had his skin crawling with anxiety and caused him to jump a foot off the ground when someone came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to see that it was only Jamie-- someone who couldn’t hurt a fly even if she wanted to.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” Jamie apologized.

Zayn placed a hand over his heart and nodded his head-- the movement coming off a bit more frantic than he had intended. “Yeah, just caught me off guard is all. What’s up?” 

“Right, well there’s these guys over in my section and I was wondering if you could serve them? They’re kind of scary looking,” Jamie asked, clasping her hands underneath her chin and widening her green eyes to get the full effect out of her pout.

Zayn chuckled slightly and nodded his head at the small waitress. “No problem, Jamie. You finish cleaning off this table and I’ll go deal with the scary men,” He handed her his towel and brought out his notepad and pen while heading over to the other end of the diner.

He wasn’t sure why she thought he would want to serve scary looking men anymore than she did, but over the past while he’s worked here  he’s kind of settled into this older brother type when Jamie’s around. The 16 year old would come in and vent to him when her school day had been particularly frustrating and even asked for advice when she was having a bit of a crush on a guy from her biology class. Which really is something Zayn had missed more than he’d ever thought he would. It was nice to feel needed again and like he made someone else feel safe. It was something the Bradford native really started to crave after only a few months of being away from his sisters, so much so he went out and got a puppy-- something that would be unbelievably dependant on him, but also wouldn’t demand he drive them to the mall every day after school.

As Zayn rounded the corner of the front register he understood immediately why Jamie didn’t want to serve the four new customers that had been seated in her section. Now Zayn had never seen himself as a coward, but he will admit that he’s pretty easily intimidated. Which proves to be true as they haven’t even open their mouths yet and they’ve already got him on edge.  

The four men were sat in a corner booth, all wearing similar black leather jackets and dark sunglasses. He couldn’t be sure, but if he had to guess he’d say they all had about 5 years on him and looked like the type that would have Zayn crossing the street in order to avoid passing them on the sidewalk. They're faces were void of any emotion while they sat silent and unmoving as Zayn approached their table.

“Good afternoon, what can I get started for you today? Something to drink?” Zayn asked brightly and did his best to squash the overwhelming urge to put these scary faces to the voices that were chasing him late last night. He was being ridiculous. There’s no way he’d run into such violent people in broad daylight-- last night was a one off encounter and he’d never have to deal with something like pedaling for his life ever again. These guys probably just had some look they were trying to achieve and it’s probably safe to say that they were definitely achieving it.

One of the men took off his sunglasses and let his blue eyes roam over Zayn’s body in a way that had Zayn squirming uncomfortably before the man started to speak. “Actually we were hoping you could relay a message to the gorgeous cook that's kept locked up in the kitchen.” 

Zayn’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion and before he could ask the feathery haired lad any questions the man gripped the collar of his shirt and yanked him down to where he could whisper in Zayn's ear. Zayn's hands flailed as he went to stop himself from collapsing into the guy’s lap and clutched the back of the booth and the table-- leaving his notepad and pen to clatter uselessly onto the floor. 

He hadn't meant to whimper. Really, he tried to keep that noise of distress locked deep in his throat, but with the way the man punctuated every word with an overwhelming amount of disgust and continuously tightened his grip around Zayn’s collar-- causing the back of it to dig painfully into Zayn’s neck, the noise seemed to tumble out of his mouth reflexively. 

After he was released his hand immediately found the back of his neck and did its best to soothe the burning feeling his shirt had left behind. 

The men then proceeded to get up from the booth and shove passed Zayn without another word. He didn’t understand what the point of any of that was, but decided he wasn’t supposed to know as the message was for Niall and not for him. With that thought he quickly made his way into the kitchen and located the blonde.

“What’s up?” Niall asked with a soft smile after Zayn had gotten his attention.

“Um, I’m supposed to like, tell you that you’ve got like a rat problem or something? And if you don’t feel like dealing with it then pest control would gladly get rid of it for you,” The words felt awkward on Zayn’s tongue as he wasn’t sure if what he was saying even made any sense. He’d been to Niall’s house plenty of times and never noticed any sign of rats or even mice, but maybe it was something recent he had been struggling with? But then again he’s sure Niall would have mentioned it to him? They had gotten pretty close since he’s started working here so Zayn didn’t understand why his friend wouldn’t have told him about something seemingly so-- so mundane. Perhaps Niall was embarrassed about it?

Niall’s eyes narrowed and his smile was instantly replaced with a deep frown. “Who told you to tell me that?” He asked urgently.

Zayn’s eyebrows stitched together in confusion. “I don’t know, these guys came in and were adamant that I tell you that. They were pretty rude about it actually,” Zayn admitted and subconsciously rubbed the back of his neck some more.

Niall’s eyes tracked Zayn’s movements and his face morphed into an expression Zayn had never seen before and really would rather not see it again. The blonde looked absolutely livid and immediately crowded Zayn, pulling him close and looking over his body for god knows what.

“What’re you doing?” Zayn questioned as Niall continued to manhandle him-- turning him in a circle and looking over his face and arms.

“Did they do anything to you?”

“What? No, well I mean the one kinda like yanked me around a bit, but its fine. I’m fine. What’s going on?” Zayn was doing his best to take Niall’s reaction with a grain of salt as he had a habit of overreacting on Zayn’s behalf, but he had this nagging feeling in his gut. Something wasn’t right.

“Nothing, nothing. Just uh don’t feel like kickin ass and gettin all sweaty in the middle of the day, which is exactly what I would do if anyone tried something on ya,” Niall stated simply as though he were talking about the weather. His initial reaction seemingly forgotten.

“Right, well I’m not like completely defenseless, mate,” Zayn reasoned. He appreciated the sentiment, but it wasn’t necessary and it may or may not have brought up some unwanted memories. Memories he had tried to burn, but settled for burying instead when they proved to be a little more embedded than he originally thought.

The blonde nodded-- taking note of Zayn’s shift in tone and instantly backed away from the subject. He didn’t know everything about Zayn, but he knew enough. Enough to know when a subject needed to be changed or forgotten altogether. He wasn’t sure what he had said exactly to make Zayn feel uncomfortable, but he’d take it in stride nonetheless. The dark haired lad deserved every ounce of normality that the world had to offer at this point and wasn’t about to disrupt that fact with continuing a train of thought that cleary Zayn wasn’t on board with.

“I’m on my way out soon, you want me to check on Petey for ya?” Niall offered while he went back to making an order of clam chowder. 

“Yeah that would be really great, you still have the extra key?” Zayn hadn’t even thought about the puppy-- having been too preoccupied with fighting the urge to look over his shoulder the whole day. Petey would surely need to be let out for a bathroom break and have a bit of company while Zayn was working a double and he was grateful Niall had brought it up. He still had a hard time asking for help sometimes even though Niall had told him repeatedly that he shouldn’t worry about it. They were friends and Niall was always more than happy to help him out.

“Yeah, yeah,” Niall said dismissively. He finished the soup and filled two bowls before placing them on a tray and holding it out for Zayn.

“You takin off early then?” Zayn asked as he glanced between the clock above the sink and Niall who was taking off his apron and hanging it up. Technically his shift wasn’t over for another 40 minutes, but he had been at the diner far longer than Zayn and Mr. Reed seemed to let Niall get away with quite a lot. 

“Yeah and look, if anyone else comes in here and says anything about rats, tell them-- actually just nod along and don’t say anything. I’ll fix this,” Niall instructed, his tone leaving no room for any push back.

Zayn nodded mutely and watched as Niall passed him with a pat on his shoulder.

“I’ll fix this,” Niall muttered to himself before walking the rest of the way out of the kitchen.

And immediately the nagging feeling came back, swirling around in his gut in a way that was bound to make him nauseous. Something wasn’t right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for readinggggg!
> 
> Tumblr----> xxsincerely-insanityxx


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo this update took a lot longer than I figured it was going to. I was actually planning on sticking to a schedule for this fic, but obviously that didn't happen. This chapter is also incredibly short, but I already have the next chapter mapped out so that's a plus. I wanted to put this part up so it didn't look like I forgot about this fic cause I really haven't am quite excited to start working on it again. I can't really be sure when the next update will come because I am working on another project, but I'll do my best to not let months go by before the next chapter is up.
> 
> Anyways....!

By the time Zayn was untying his apron and hanging it up for the night it was well past one in the morning. His eyes burned as he did his best to keep them open for just a little while longer. He’d been hit with quite a large crowd during the dinner rush and had been on his own waiting tables since Jamie clocked out early at around eight. It’d only take about ten, maybe fifteen minutes to bike home and then he could crash-- onto the couch most likely because climbing a set of stairs when he was this tired just wasn’t going to happen.

Zayn mumbled his goodbyes to the night cook, Kelly and his replacement, David, but didn’t bother to wait for their replies as he fished out his lighter and cigarettes from his apron on the hook and made his way out of the kitchen. It was a bit chilly for one to be biking only in a t-shirt and jeans, but Zayn didn’t get a  lot of time to dwell on the matter as he quickly found himself letting out a surprised yelp before landing harshly onto the concrete beside the bike rack.

“Oh shit, sorry ‘bout that. You alright there?” A man asked and stuck out his hand to help Zayn off the ground.

Zayn took the guys hand gratefully and swiped at his backside to make sure nothing had gotten onto his pants. “No problem. It was an accident,” Zayn dismissed with a shrug.

“Here, ya dropped these,” The guy said while handing Zayn his lighter and pack of cigarettes.

“Thanks,” Zayn replied and made sure to put them in his pocket before he moved over and unlocked his bike.

“You have a good rest of your night.”

And maybe if Zayn hadn’t been so exhausted, maybe if he hadn’t been so focused on getting home he might have questioned the man’s suddenly sarcastic tone. However, Zayn only called out a simple _you too,_ not really paying anymore attention to the man after he started to walk away.

Zayn wrapped his bike lock around his handlebars before getting on and peddling down the dimly lit streets. The ride home wasn’t so bad, but he did end up yawning more times then he could count. The cool breeze brushing against his skin also did little to keep his blinks from lasting longer than they should have, especially while he was riding his bike.

“Hi baby, how was your day? Did you have fun with Niall earlier?” Zayn asked Pete when the puppy greeted him excitedly at the door.

“Why don’t we get you outside for a bit,” Zayn suggested while Pete trailed after him to the back door.

The puppy yipped happily and bolted out into the back yard as soon as Zayn opened the door. Zayn flipped on the back porch light and smiled tiredly out at Petey who was now sniffing along the fence line.

He heaved out a long sigh while rummaging through his pockets. The day felt as though it might go on forever and had Zayn promising to set an alarm next time so he’d never have to work a pay-less double again. His tired fingers fumbled with the plastic wrap around the new pack of cigarettes, causing him to pause momentarily. He could have swore he hadn't bought a new pack just yet. Zayn had been attempting to shake the nasty habit for a while now and tried to see how long he could go in between packs before his addiction got the better of him. Perhaps he was just so tired that he was remembering wrong, but he was sure he had at least two left in his last pack.

Petey clambered up the porch steps just as Zayn took a long (un)healthy drag of the cigarette. His shoulders immediately sagged as he felt the tension of his long day float away with the smoke that he made sure to blow out in the opposite direction of Pete.

Zayn crouched down to Pete’s level and allowed the puppy to perch his front paws on Zayn’s knee. “You’re so cute. I’m so lucky to have you, Petey,” Zayn whispered while stroking behind the puppy’s ears.

Pete stretched up and left a long slobbery stripe on Zayn’s cheek. The giggle that was threatening to tumble out of Zayn’s mouth at Pete’s antics died in his throat as he suddenly started to feel dizzy.

A pounding feeling quickly accompanied the dizziness in his head and it felt a lot like someone was holding his head under water. Zayn had tried his best to make sure he’d never have to experience that again, but obviously he must have not tried hard enough because here he was on the verge of a panic attack as the drowning feeling continued to get worse.

Petey whined and softly nudged Zayn’s knee with his nose; the small movement causing Zayn’s panicked body to topple over onto his side. Zayn brought his knees to his chest and tried to get a handle on his breathing, but couldn’t seem to shake the sensation of someone sitting on his chest.

Usually during a panic attack he’d do everything in his power to keep the black dots at bay-- not liking the thought of being unconscious in public, which is where his attacks normally hit him. This time however, Zayn welcomed the tiny black holes that clouded his vision. They promised a break from the unbearable feeling of water clogging his lungs.

Petey’s sudden outburst of loud growls began to sound farther and farther away to Zayn as his eyesight was now almost completely compromised.

Zayn wondered briefly what Niall was doing here at this time of night and when Niall had switched his grey converse for black vans. He didn’t have time to dwell on that thought however, because just like Petey had, the shoes that appeared in front of his face had been swallowed by darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Btw I got the idea of Zayn being drugged by his cigarette from an episode of Criminal Minds. 
> 
> Thanks for readinggggg!


End file.
